I grated some chalk and used it as on my roses yesterday.
Is that edible? for that matter, is Luster dust edible? I always assumed it was.
From what I understand and have read here, as long as you use the non-toxic chalk you should be fine on the chalk side. Granted, I don't think 'I would use it on anything you were going to eat. So I used it to dust and color my roses, which I don't intend anyone to eat, but I don't know that I'd use it to change the color of my fondant coating my cake. I have no idea about commercial luster dust though. I haven't used it much.
Randi
Was just looking at the post: http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-54059.html
which is a sticky at the top of the forum page about luster dusts. ShirleyW says in that post that "The dusts are considered Non Toxic but not a food additive, I tell people not to eat the flowers. They may be made of edible gumpaste but because of the dust colors I don't recommend eating them. Most flower petals contain floral wire too, so another reason for not eating them "
I hope this helps answer your question.
Re: chalking of gumpaste flowers. I tried that yesterday. I also looked up the contents of chalk and several sites stated that it is calcium carbonate. I take Calcium Carbonate as a supplement for stronger bones, so maybe we'd be doing people a favor if they actually ate the flower...no osteoporosis for them! 
I checked the contents of Luster Dust and it said Titanium Dioxide, Iron Oxide, Carmine, Mica, Silica and Axolite. So which chemicals do you really want in your edible food products?
I also read somewhere on the internet that if you steam the flowers, that will set the color. So I tried that today. It also gives it a very nice sheen, and almost an irridescent look! (So, no pearl luster dust needed either)...although I will have to try that and the metallic dusts someday (despite all the chemicals) ...they give such a beautiful look.
Love, love, love the ideas--thanks for sharing!
I particularly like the one about using plastic tablecloths and shower curtains, but I thought you weren't supposed to use plastic unless it was "food grade." Is this just something someone used to scare me into buying an expensive procuct I didn't need?
I am not sure of the shower curtains but as for the table cloths, I am sure there wouldn't be an issue with that since they are meant to be eaten on anyway right? I just picked up some from walmart for $1 today,
i also use the vinyl pieces as a sheet to roll out my fondant on...the problem i used to have was that they would slide on the countertop so at first i was using my husbands tool clamps to hold the vinyl in place. then one day i got done with one cake, started to decorate another one, and decided to clean up my work surface real quick. i wiped the sugar off the top of the vinyl, then lifted it up and wiped cleaner underneath on the formica. when i layed the vinyl back down, i ran a clean paper towel over the vinyl to dry it off, and i realized that the water below the vinyl had helped adhere it to the countertop.
i do this everytime now, and it doesn't budge until cleanup time!
These are some great tips! Thanks to everyone for sharing!!!! I don't have anything useful to share, except that a local pro cake shop told me to get straws from McDonald's & Arby's - they are the strongest ones. They use them, instead of dowels, in their stacked cakes.
I also want to share, Michael's has the new Wilton Pearl Dust. It is 3.99 for a little bitty bottle, & I wonder if it's as good as the other. It might work in a pinch, if you ran out & didn't have time to order from CC. The colors our store had were limited.
Brenda
just bought the wilton pearl dust to use on a guitar cake. i'll let you know how it worked out.
as for saving money... i'm sure most of you already do this but , when i have leftover bc from 1 cake i add fruit perserves to it for the filling of my next cake.
OK, I'm very exicted about the Play-Doh funfactory idea. Hasbro has a great site that shows you how to make various hand-molded things, http://www.hasbro.com/playdoh/. I love it! Thanks for sharing.
I love my husband! When we built our new home, he put an insta-hot water dispenser at the vegetable sink. I can rinse buttercream off of anything in seconds. I also throw my used tips and couplers in a bowl with a little dish soap and fill it with boiling water from the insta-hot. You could use any hot water from the stove or the microwave. Wonderful!
PVC is VERY bad for the environment. I would not use in anything related to cakes. The same goes for anything made with vinyl. Baby toys and cheap toys from the stores should be scrutinized before using on cakes (we've gotten McDonald's toys made out of vinyl). You can go to sites like http://www.pvcinformation.org to learn more. If it smells like plastic it means it is off-gasing and is a big no-no around food.
Hope that helps.
Thanks for all the great tips!
PVC is VERY bad for the environment. I would not use in anything related to cakes. The same goes for anything made with vinyl. Baby toys and cheap toys from the stores should be scrutinized before using on cakes (we've gotten McDonald's toys made out of vinyl). You can go to sites like http://www.pvcinformation.org to learn more. If it smells like plastic it means it is off-gasing and is a big no-no around food.
Hope that helps.
Thanks for all the great tips!
elain, that's a powerful post froma first timer! Welcome to the forums and thanks for the link. I thought PVC and vinyl were two different things. Interesting.
I believe elian is right...even the vinyl from swimming pools and other childrens toys are a no-no around babies. It's something to think about.
Thanks for the thread, there are some pretty amazing ideas here!
I bought several wooden rounds in different sizes from the home store. DH drilled a hole in the center of each.
Now, when I need to make a sturdy tiered cake, I pick the size board a need, cover it and just cut a dowel to size and insert it in the hole, and start stacking the cakes on it. I use a large (clean) nail to make holes in my cake boards to stack them also. I'm telling you, that cake goes NOWHERE, and it doesn't slide.
Then I use bubble (boba) straws in the tiers to provide extra support. They are sturdier than regular straws. You can find them at an asian market or online very cheap.
I know you normally put the dowel through the whole cake at last, but I've found this way to work better for me.
When you put the dowel in the round, it helps to slam the edge of it against a solid surface to "mushroom" the end, it keeps it from sliding out, then insert it from the bottom of the round.
Lots of great info here!
Okay ~ here's a few I thought of:
1. Use a papertowel to emboss a design on crusted buttercream icing.
2. To bake a level cake preheat oven to 350 and turn it down to 325 when you put the cake in the oven.
3. For small amounts of icing, cut parchment triangles in half and you'll have 2 for the price of one.
4. These two were already mentioned but not used together. Use a picnic style ketchup or mustard bottle for your homemade cake release. I used to put mine in my Wilton Cake Release bottle but it was such a pain. The hole on the ketchup bottle is much larger for adding more cake release.
I was at my home improvement store today buying pvc pipe to roll out fondant for a 16" round cake I'm doing in a couple of weeks. There was a guy there with a base for a hot water heater which was a 26" round aluminum pan... he said they also had a 24" round. It was only about $15. Do you think you could bake a cake in that thing? I picked it up and it seemed to have the same weight as a cake pan. I would need to have to access to a comercial oven for the 26" but I think the 24" would go in my oven.
PVC is VERY bad for the environment. I would not use in anything related to cakes.
Agreed- we do have to be careful about the creative use of non- food- specific products. There are medical and food grade PVC's that are FDA & USP approved. This is often used for water lines, etc., so this type of PVC would be OK to use.
I was looking into using rubber stamps (that you can buy for craft projects) for cookies and heard recently that not only are some of the rubbers non- food- safe, but sometimes have silica particles on them, and that because they are slightly porous, that if you cleaned them with a bleach solution it would absorb the bleach and this would leach into the food with use.
Lots to consider. But you guys have come up with some great ideas!
I use fishing line to torte my cakes - I just wrap around both pointer fingers, then pull thru the cake - works like a charm!
I use rice noodles for animal whiskers, bug antenae, or stamens for flowers. I just "paint" them the appropriate color w/ straight gel paste color. (I was going to buy fishing line for whiskers one day and was at Wal-Mart when it hit me; I veered toward the grocery section instead ). You get lots for about $1.25! Oh, and they are Edible; YAY! I like for as much of the decorations and cake to be edible medium... 
I use fishing line to cut "cake squares" which works great...I wrap it around my fingers like dental floss, cut and then let go of one end and pull it through the other side, keeps the mess down.
Whew, I just went through 11 pages 
Anyways, here are a few of my tips:
I use scrapbooking paper to match my cake. I get them at AC Moore for 50 cents each or sometimes even cheaper when they're on sale. I use shrink wrap to wrap my foam board. Just blow dry and voila! no more wrinkles 
I get my shrink wrap from the dollar store and I can usually wrap three 12-inch square boards with one purchase.
I make my own stencils using mylar that I buy from Walmart. Did this for musical notes and message on Herk's birthday cake in my gallery
Because my handwriting sucks and I don't have a an edible printer (el cheapo 
), I print a message on transparency, cut and put over fondant and adhere on cake board. I make sure that no one eats it though Samples of these are my watch cake (face of watch), NY yankees cap, and spongebob cake.
For the moment that's all I could think of. I'll post again if I remember anything
fooby, just wondering... you say you use transparency paper and put it over fondant? do you leave the transparencey on there? if you do you sure can't tell-please explain.
also had another tip-i loved the vinyl shower curtain and tablecloth idea but it kept moving around so i took a scrap of wood and stapled the vinyl to it with a craft stapler. now i have a portable non-stick table top and i can work on fondant pieces anywhere.
and FYI i hated the wilton's pearl dust!
Along these lines, I think I read somewhere that someone (can't find the thread) had bought a cheaper airbrush by getting one from the craft section at Michael's or HL instead of buying a cake one - can anyone elaborate and tell how/if it works well, etc?? THx!
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